Dictionary

onerous en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈəʊnəɹəs/ (UK)
• /ˈɑnəɹəs/ (US)
• /ˈɒnəɹəs/ (UK)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈoʊnəɹəs/ (US)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃en(H)- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *h₃én(H)os Proto-Italic *onos Latin onus Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *h₃édosder.? Proto-Italic *-ŏ̄dsos? Old Latin -ōssus Latin -ōsus Latin onerosuslbor. Old French onereus Middle French onereuxbor. Middle English onerous English onerous Inherited from Middle English onerous, borrowed from Middle French onereux, from Old French onereus, a learned borrowing from Latin onerosus, from onus (“burden”) + -ōsus. Compare exonerate.

Meanings

1. Imposing or constituting a physical, mental, or figurative load which can be borne only with effort; burdensome.
   • Again, and more intensely than ever, she desired a fixed occupation,—no matter how onerous, how irksome. 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Further Communications on Business”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 45:
   • The striker's job was onerous, too, because there was so little "give" in the metal, and the perpetual jarring was indeed trying to the muscles. 1945 January and February, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—III”, in Railway Magazine, page 13:
   • [I]t has become an onerous duty, a wearisome and distasteful task. 1910, Jack London, “The Golden Poppy”, in Revolution and Other Essays:
   • People with diabetes mellitus rely predominantly on finger pricking to measure blood levels of glucose, which can be onerous. 2024 June, “A novel system for non-invasive measurement of blood levels of glucose”, in Nature Reviews Endocrinology, volume 20, →DOI, page 320:
   • That all this might not be too onerous on the purses of his rustic patrons, who are apt to consider the costs of schooling a grievous burden, and schoolmasters as mere drones, he had various ways of rendering himself both useful and agreeable. 1820, Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow:
   • However, given current sensibilities about individual privacy and data protection, the recording of oral data is becoming increasingly onerous for researchers[.] 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 11:

Forms

Deriveds

nononerous · onerously · unonerous · onerousness · onerosity

Synonyms

demanding · wearing · taxing · difficult · burdensome

Translations (41)

it ostico (burdensome) · fr onéreux (burdensome) · la onerōsus (burdensome) · uk обтя́жливий (burdensome) · tr eziyetli (burdensome) · mi taimaha (burdensome) · pt oneroso (burdensome) · fr pénible (burdensome) · cs těžký (burdensome) · nl veeleisend (burdensome) · fi työläs (burdensome) · ru тягостный (burdensome) · pl uciążliwy (burdensome) · sh zamoran (burdensome) · tr güç (burdensome) · tr ağır (burdensome) · ru обременительный (burdensome) · sv jobbig (burdensome) · bg затрудняващ (burdensome) · it oneroso (burdensome) · de lästig (burdensome) · ca onerós (burdensome) · cs obtížný (burdensome) · de beschwerlich (burdensome) · sh tegoban (burdensome) · hi बोझिल (burdensome) · es oneroso (burdensome) · tr sıkıntılı (burdensome) · nb tyngende (burdensome) · tr zahmetli (burdensome) · nl lastig (burdensome) · nl moeilijk (burdensome) · fi raskas (burdensome) · mi taumaha (burdensome) · de drückend (burdensome) · bg обременителен (burdensome) · de mühsam (burdensome) · fr lourd (burdensome) · cs tíživý (burdensome) · mi toimaha (burdensome) · tr külfetli (burdensome)